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I have just bought some wild flower seeds in Morrisons for £1. They come in a small tub/propagator and i have sown them, so hopefully I will have some lovely flowers to attract butterflies to my small garden.
Are there any flowers, which are cat and dog friendly, that I can plant to attract more? I have just bought Peonies and Freesias, merely because I love the flowers, but don't know if they're attractive to them or not!
Hi Jayne, good luck with the seeds! I don't know if you have a Homebase near you but ours were selling off troughs and pots really cheaply. The troughs were tin and were down to about a pound each - I use lots of pots etc to fill with with a good mixture of plants.
Unknown said: Hi Jayne, good luck with the seeds! I don't know if you have a Homebase near you but ours were selling off troughs and pots really cheaply. The troughs were tin and were down to about a pound each - I use lots of pots etc to fill with with a good mixture of plants.
Hi Coral,
Yes we do have a Homebase quite near so thanks for the tip!
Jayne
Recently I brought a new Michaelmas Daisy ( Monch) that has never attracted even a hoverfly. (had I read Adrian's gardening blog I would have been forewarned!).
Now I am suspicious of just buying seeds or plants of a so called butterfly /bee/bird plants in case I pick a variety which has lost its nectar or pollen in the breeding process ( and they usually look more attractive to us humans!).
My way round this is to visit garden centres that have a lot of insect life about - National Trust or privately owned large gardens open to the public are good, and they are nearly always free to get in ( but not the gardens of course!) On a nice sunny day you can see which plants attract what. Usually the plants are very high quality and expensive, but if unaffordable you can make a note and buy a packet of seeds from somewhere.
Carole R said: Recently I brought a new Michaelmas Daisy ( Monch) that has never attracted even a hoverfly. (had I read Adrian's gardening blog I would have been forewarned!). Now I am suspicious of just buying seeds or plants of a so called butterfly /bee/bird plants in case I pick a variety which has lost its nectar or pollen in the breeding process ( and they usually look more attractive to us humans!). My way round this is to visit garden centres that have a lot of insect life about - National Trust or privately owned large gardens open to the public are good, and they are nearly always free to get in ( but not the gardens of course!) On a nice sunny day you can see which plants attract what. Usually the plants are very high quality and expensive, but if unaffordable you can make a note and buy a packet of seeds from somewhere.
Hi Ratty,
I used to have a Michaelmas Daisy, they spread like wildfire don't they? Nice tips there, thank you, I shall certainly do just that!
Ian H said: Try some of the catmint family, certainly are cat friendly but bees and butterflies love the flowers. I have had some success with Nepeta faasenii Buddleias do attract lots of butterflies but i would recommend searching around for Buddleia globosa which has very attractive orange blooms that are irresistable to bees and many moths and butterflies and less invasive than davidii varieties.
Try some of the catmint family, certainly are cat friendly but bees and butterflies love the flowers. I have had some success with Nepeta faasenii
Buddleias do attract lots of butterflies but i would recommend searching around for Buddleia globosa which has very attractive orange blooms that are irresistable to bees and many moths and butterflies and less invasive than davidii varieties.
Buddleia globosa - I'm glad to know it's irresistable to insects - thanks Ian
For what it's worth Jayne, I've found corn marigold, field poppies, cornflowers, Limnanthes douglasii (poached egg plant) all attract insects like billyo, look lovely planted in separate pots and provide seed to plant next year. If you can fit in some evening primrose they provide seeds for finches (esp goldies) and I've watched sparrows in previous gardens taking it in turns to bounce up and down on the seedheads to feed their mates below - a lovely sight. They spread like crazy but are easy to recognise and hoike out any excess when they're young, they form tight rosettes of leaves. They also smell wonderful in the evening, as the name suggests - so I expect they attract moths too. (Ian?) Corncockles are nice and once you've got 'em they also seed prolifically and may need thinning. There's loads more but space is limited so I'll dry up...Oh and edible and irrestible to bees and hoverflies, chives and oregano.